An open letter to horsemen from Jeff GuralWednesday, May 23, 2012 - by Jeff Gural

Editor's Note: The following is a press release sent by Jeff Gural, New Meadowlands Racetrack LLC

As we move forward with the next phase of the Meadowlands project which consists of building a new grandstand at a cost of around $90,000,000, I am becoming increasingly concerned over the fact that it is becoming harder and harder to get horses to race at the Meadowlands.

It seems everybody likes to qualify their good horses but when it comes to racing they would rather go someplace else.

One wonders does it really make sense to build a new grandstand and try to fill it with customers young and old if there are not enough horses to race? Our income is derived solely from wagering and only half as much is bet on a seven horse race as is bet on a ten horse race.

The other option is to do what our competitors do and only allocate 10 percent of our available purse money to stakes races and 90 percent to overnights. Personally, I think that would be a disaster for the industry, especially in light of the problems we may face next year in Canada if WEG has to cut back on their stakes programs.

In any case, if anyone has any suggestions as to the type of races they would like to see us card at the Meadowlands that would help alleviate this problem, please e-mail me at jgural@newmarkkf.com and I will discuss it with the racing department.

I appreciate that everyone is thrilled the Meadowlands is not going to close but the industry has to support the racing program and not just pick and choose the stakes races if we are going to survive. The next few weeks will be especially difficult now that the sire stakes are ending and before the 2-year-olds start up again, so any input would be greatly appreciated.

One of the biggest problem they have of getting horses comes directly from the way they card their races. This comes from many horseman I've spoken to, the fact that its just way to difficult to win races at the track.

It's the condition of the races.....An example

I have seen horses who have 21,000 k last 5 starts and they drop into NW 25,000......this same horse is now carded into a race with an optional condition of NW of 200 thousand in 2012 eligible.......This race had horses dropping out of the Spring Pacing Championship and had 70 and 80 grand made in their last 5 starts.....Moral of the story was this race went in 1:48.3......OK, I know he does this to fill the card but its a cycle, he writes bad races because he has to but no one wants to race their because these bad classes are making it impossible to win there.

One of the biggest problem they have of getting horses comes directly from the way they card their races. This comes from many horseman I've spoken to, the fact that its just way to difficult to win races at the track.

It's the condition of the races.....An example

I have seen horses who have 21,000 k last 5 starts and they drop into NW 25,000......this same horse is now carded into a race with an optional condition of NW of 200 thousand in 2012 eligible.......This race had horses dropping out of the Spring Pacing Championship and had 70 and 80 grand made in their last 5 starts.....Moral of the story was this race went in 1:48.3......OK, I know he does this to fill the card but its a cycle, he writes bad races because he has to but no one wants to race their because these bad classes are making it impossible to win there.

You would think M1 would be EASIER to win because there's no slots purses. Why is M1 so hard if the better horses are 'supposed to be' chasing slots money around?

Also, Jeff indicates that betting is important....so, how about we all lend a hand and start betting the M1 races? Im sure you can spare a few dollars per night to toss into the M1 pools, no? Even if its one bet of 2 WPS on one pick? Anything, even 6 dollars would be appreciated.

You would think M1 would be EASIER to win because there's no slots purses. Why is M1 so hard if the better horses are 'supposed to be' chasing slots money around?

Also, Jeff indicates that betting is important....so, how about we all lend a hand and start betting the M1 races? Im sure you can spare a few dollars per night to toss into the M1 pools, no? Even if its one bet of 2 WPS on one pick? Anything, even 6 dollars would be appreciated.

You're both correct, the "AE" conditions are almost always detrimental and tend to get some horse into the race who sticks out like a sore thumb and pays 3/5. But this is a function of the purses being low and people voting with their feet for the inflated purses at Poke and Chester. That will change, perhaps very soon, when PA pulls the slots dough out of the purse accounts. Does anyone know for sure if and when that's going to be implemented in the Keystone State?

One of the biggest problem they have of getting horses comes directly from the way they card their races. This comes from many horseman I've spoken to, the fact that its just way to difficult to win races at the track.

It's the condition of the races.....An example

I have seen horses who have 21,000 k last 5 starts and they drop into NW 25,000......this same horse is now carded into a race with an optional condition of NW of 200 thousand in 2012 eligible.......This race had horses dropping out of the Spring Pacing Championship and had 70 and 80 grand made in their last 5 starts.....Moral of the story was this race went in 1:48.3......OK, I know he does this to fill the card but its a cycle, he writes bad races because he has to but no one wants to race their because these bad classes are making it impossible to win there.

Exactly....we tossed in the hat because of these reasons. Horses were having to trot in :54/:55 and barely gettting a check because of the AE allowances that allowed people to drop monsters in the same class. No sense trucking down there and getting your teeth kicked in when you can go somewhere else, trot in :58 and get a nice check.

You would think M1 would be EASIER to win because there's no slots purses. Why is M1 so hard if the better horses are 'supposed to be' chasing slots money around?

Also, Jeff indicates that betting is important....so, how about we all lend a hand and start betting the M1 races? Im sure you can spare a few dollars per night to toss into the M1 pools, no? Even if its one bet of 2 WPS on one pick? Anything, even 6 dollars would be appreciated.

You're both correct, the "AE" conditions are almost always detrimental and tend to get some horse into the race who sticks out like a sore thumb and pays 3/5. But this is a function of the purses being low and people voting with their feet for the inflated purses at Poke and Chester. That will change, perhaps very soon, when PA pulls the slots dough out of the purse accounts.

I read your letter regarding not being able to attract enough horses and I'll offer one suggestion that knocked me out of your entry box in the past and kept you from getting my loyalty as a horseman. Please once and for all drop your New Jersey sired or owned from your condition sheet.

All winter your race office may exclude a whole bunch of people who want to race at your track and then when you need them they simply have no loyalty as when we wanted to race at your track we weren't welcome.

The people you want to race at your track live in other states and also wish to race in the winter months. In my opinion some people don't like being welcome only several months a year.

I read your letter regarding not being able to attract enough horses and I'll offer one suggestion that knocked me out of your entry box in the past and kept you from getting my loyalty as a horseman. Please once and for all drop your New Jersey sired or owned from your condition sheet.

All winter your race office may exclude a whole bunch of people who want to race at your track and then when you need them they simply have no loyalty as when we wanted to race at your track we weren't welcome.

The people you want to race at your track live in other states and also wish to race in the winter months. In my opinion some people don't like being welcome only several months a year.